Hi I'm sorry to be so late to this, I don't get notifications so I only see these when I check in. Mine are about a year old. The leather is gorgeous, and very soft in the sense that it's beautiful leather, and they look just like yours. I think my issue is more the fit... I have / had a really hard time getting my foot into the shoe, but once the shoe was on, the length and width were great. I still have to maneuver pretty hard to get my foot in there, even though the shoe is comfortable once it's on my foot. I've read every scenario in the world on the fit of these shoes... it seems to vary wildly by person, from tts to huge to stiff to soft to easy to get on to hard to get on.... All of that said, the leather on my Jordaans most definitely is not as soft and "glovey" as the leather on the brixton. The shoe for sure has a lot more structure (or I guess you could call it "stiffness"). Maybe they have changed it. I think it would be a welcome change!
Gucci normally change their leather and inner on classic loafers Winter to Summer and back, so this wouldn't be unheard of.